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Month: August 2016

The New Year Is Coming: Content Marketing Trends in 2017

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Year after year brings new and interesting insights in the ever-expanding industry that is digital marketing, and 2017 is no different. Read on to learn more about what content marketers can expect in the coming year.

1. Native Advertising

Native advertising is increasing in popularity because it isn’t disruptive to the user’s experience and is usually relevant to their interests. In 2017, content marketers can expect to spend nearly as much time promoting the content as creating it.

2. Visuals and Videos

Most brands don’t utilize video in their digital marketing strategy, and those that do just hope for a viral video rather than planning out a long-term storytelling strategy that engages customers.

3. Snapchat

Speaking of video, Snapchat took some time to gain social media marketing momentum, but now it’s here to stay. It also gets more video views than Facebook, making it a worthy consideration for any social media marketing campaign. While it won’t integrate seamlessly for all companies, businesses in retail, sports, and hospitality will find it especially useful.

4. Good Writing

It’s easy to forget that good writing is the foundation for stellar storytelling. Most online communication is text-based, whether on social, blogs, or paid ads. Finding great writers who understand the brand and can clearly convey a message will become all the more important moving forward.

5. Email Marketing

Email marketing is far from a lost cause, but many marketers don’t invest the time to come up with a real drip campaign strategy. Automating emails is a great way to expand the reach of your content, gain addition insight into your customer base, drive desired actions, and improve your overall customer experience.

These are just a few things that will be focused on more in the coming year, so take the time to get a step ahead by evaluating your current processes and revamping in time for 2017.

Saba SEO is a San Diego-based digital marketing agency that specializes in search engine optimization, paid advertising, and web design and development. To learn more, call (858) 277-1717 today.

How a Small Business Can Get Ahead of the Insta Game

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As social media marketing becomes a must for most businesses, many small businesses are wondering how they can get their share of the pie when competing with the big guys. Here, San Diego social media marketing experts highlight 5 ways a small business can make its Instagram standout from the rest.

1. Work Weekends

One of the main benefits of working traditional hours is being off on weekends. But less than 10 percent of big companies post on Sundays, making it the least competitive day of the week to post to your IG account (Saturday comes in a close second). Moreover, posts on Sundays are engaged with more frequently than posts any other day of the week.

2. Forget 9 to 5

When it comes to Fortune 500 companies, 88 percent of their photos on Instagram were published between the hours of 9am and 9pm. However, most engagement happened between the hours of 10pm and 3am. Make your business stand out from the competition by posting outside of traditional work hours. This can help increase user engagement, too.

3. Use Filters

Photos with the Mayfair filter see more engagement than photos posted with any other filter, including just leaving the image as is in its original state, but less than one percent of big brands use this filter. Hefe, Ludwig, and Lo-Fi are also at the top of the leader board. What does this mean? Spend a little time on each photo.

4. Hashtags, Not Exclamation Marks

Using exclamation marks in an Instagram post can actually reduce engagement, whereas using relevant and thoughtful hashtags and question marks provides a marginal boost. Consider creating a branded hashtag, and spend a few minutes thinking about what you’ll use in the caption.

5. Geotag

One benefit of being a small business is you can geotag your location, which is particularly beneficial for retail stores, mom and pop shops, and restaurants and bars. This will let people in the immediate area know where you’re located and allow them to check-in, it can attract new customers who are browsing geotags to see what’s in the area, and lead to user generated content.

Managing a comprehensive social media marketing campaign is no small task. If you could use a little help, reach out to Saba SEO in San Diego by calling (858) 277-1717. We are a full-service boutique marketing agency specializing in PPC, SEO, social media, and web design. Call today.

How to Stop Customers from Unsubscribing from Your Email List

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First it was a few unsubscribes, but now it seems like every week there are dozens. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to reevaluate the content you’re sending out and prevent customers from saying adios.

Get Personal

The emails you send customers shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Review how you’ve segmented your audience and consider shifting things. If you have customers with an empty shopping cart in the same group as one-time shoppers, split them up. They’re at different points in their journey and need different prompts to come back and complete a transaction.

Get Creative

In 2014, Ikea’s online catalogue used augmented reality to give customers a better idea of what their furniture looked like and how it could be placed around a room. Cosmetic companies are following suit as well, allowing people to upload photos and “test” the make up before buying.

Get Crafty

You aren’t the only one guilty of rehashing old content, albeit slightly altered, as part of your ongoing social media marketing efforts. Each channel, however, has a unique audience and therefore needs unique content. It’s not that you can’t use the same idea, just tailor it to each platform to increase your odds of engagement. Don’t forget to go beyond, “This is our brand, please like us.” Social media is a great place to offer special promotions or discounts, engage with the community, build relationships with other businesses, host promotions, announce special events, and so on.

Get a Laugh

If there is one thing everyone can appreciate, it’s a good laugh. Whether you are sending a newsletter, reminder, offer, or welcome email, let your company’s personality shine through. Emails that are funny, witty, creative, or even a little tongue-in-cheek will stand out against the rest.

Some people will still unsubscribe, that’s just how it is. But with a little evaluation and creativity, you can keep customers happy and on board. Learn more about effective email and content marketing from Saba SEO, a San Diego SEO agency. Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 and request your free website audit.

Twitter for Business 101

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With more than 300 million active monthly users, Twitter isn’t a platform that should be ignored when making your online marketing strategy. Even though Twitter makes an effort to present ads and other content based on user activity, you’ll still have to make choices with how you display ads for your business via this platform.

Types of Twitter Ads

Twitter’s Objective-Based Campaigns feature directs you towards the right type of “card,” or ad type, for your goals. By tapping “privacy and content” under “Settings,” you can tailor ads according to info from your ad partners. There are nine types of Twitter ads you can choose.

The type of ad you run depends on the preferred action you want a browser to take. App cards, for instance, will take a user directly to the app store to purchase a particular app you’re promoting. Lead generation cards capture email addresses you can use to expand your database. You can also have ads that:

  • Use an image to direct clicks to your site
  • Display an assortment of products
  • Take users to a specific landing page on your website
  • Link directly to a short video or GIF related to your campaign

Promoting Your Ads

Ads can be distributed as Promoted Tweets, which can be purchased and linked to certain content likely to appeal to your desired audience. A short description is included if you opt for a Promoted Account, which also has a convenient “Follow” button. Promoted Trends will send your hashtag to the head of Twitter’s trending hashtags list in specific locations.

When you run Twitter campaigns, you’ll get a suggested bid price. Consider going lower than what’s recommended. In many cases, you’ll get effective results for less. As with ads displayed via other platforms, track your results and make adjustments as necessary to fine-tune your delivery and presentation.

Get the help you need to develop a killer social media marketing plan by reaching out to Saba Inc., a leading SEM company in San Diegos. We help businesses near and far understand and reach their target audience. Call us today at (858) 277-1717. We look forward to chatting with you.

What You Need to Know About Starting an Email Drip Campaign

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Drip email campaigns, also know as automated email campaigns, autoresponders, or lifecycle emails, are essentially a set of emails sent out on a set schedule automatically. Emails will often go out when someone signs up for a newsletter, makes a purchase, or has left items in a cart. The idea behind drip campaigns is that by providing the right information to the customer at the right time, businesses can elicit the desired behavior. According to research done by Emma, targeted emails produce 18 times more revenue than general ones.

When to Use a Drip Campaign

The main goal of all drip email campaigns is to keep users engaged. Depending on your product or service, San Diego online marketing agencies can use this type of campaign for the following:

– Welcoming
– Onboarding
– Nurturing leads
– Recommendations
– Special offers
– Shopping carts

How to Set Up the Campaign

Drip emails work best when sent to a very specific demographic. Start by separating your subscribers or customers into targeted groups (new customer, one-time shopper, etc.), and then determine the desired action (app download, upsell, etc.). Once you have these two pieces of information, you can create a message that is clear, attractive, and actionable.

Start and Measure the Campaign

Decide how many emails to send and in what order, then begin the campaign. If your business doesn’t have its own drip email software, there are a number of off-the-shelf options you can use to streamline the process.

Make sure to measure the results as you go to determine the campaign’s effectiveness. If you aren’t getting the results you want, try reviewing your segments, rewriting emails, sending fewer or more emails, and changing the call to action. Evaluate again and continue to adjust accordingly.

Remember, although this is an automated campaign, it also requires a lot of trial and error to find out what works for your business. For help reaching your marketing objectives, reach out to Saba SEO. In addition to SEO in San Diego, we also specialize in social media marketing and AdWords management. Call our office today at (858) 277-1717 to learn more!

6 Blogs All Digital Marketers Should Read

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Digital marketing in San Diego is a competitive field, and one of the best ways to stay ahead of the game is by reading industry-related publications on a regular basis. But with all the information on the internet, where do you start? Here’s our pick for the top marketing blogs.

1. Copyblogger

This is a great blog for content marketers. This go-to resource has just about everything you could need regarding content marketing, copywriting, and content curation.

2. The Sales Lion

Marcus Sheridan, also known as the “pool guy”, is a well-known speaker in the marketing industry who shares his personal marketing knowledge on how to get your business noticed. Best of all, he’s honest and doesn’t make marketing sound like something that just happens.

3. Moz

We couldn’t make this list without including Moz, known to most as the top authority on all things SEO. The Moz blog has just about everything you could want to know regarding digital marketing, from Google updates to social media marketing tricks and everything in between.

4. Web SEO Analytics Blog

If you’re looking for tips, tricks, or just general advice on improving your SEO campaigns, this blog is for you. It offers a wealth of information on moving up in the rankings, building links, and even analytics.

5. HubSpot

You’ve likely heard of a gem called HubSpot. Whether you are just getting started in online marketing or can run campaigns in your sleep, this blog has advice, tips, and information for everyone.

6. Social Triggers

Derek Halpern helms the ship that is Social Triggers. This blog offers tons of information on how to be persuasive and increase product profitability. He’s also got some good info on sharing content and building your network. There are hundreds of good blogs out there, so read a few and find what works for you.

If you find that putting together a comprehensive marketing campaign is more than you bargained for, reach out to Saba SEO, a leading San Diego SEM company. We can plan and manage everything, from your social media to your paid advertising. Call (858) 277-1717 and ask about a free website audit today!

Deciding Between Gated & Ungated Content

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Do you want to simply present your content for the world to see with absolutely no barriers or do you set up roadblocks and require some info before allowing access to that spiffy new e-book or latest edition of your newsletter? If you lead a San Diego digital marketing team, this is one of the choices you’re going to have to make when deciding how your content is accessed by customers.

Gated Content

One of the biggest cons against using gated content, or anything that requires people to sign up or provide info before viewing, is the resistance to providing too much info online. While ungated content may generate more downloads, that doesn’t necessarily translate to more leads or conversions, so there are plenty of compelling reasons to go gated, which can be successful if you:

• Make the value clear
• Minimize required signup info
• Map out your sales funnel so you know who’s likely to be interested

Ungated Content

Videos you post to YouTube or on your website or blog content viewable to anyone are examples of ungated content. Unrestricted content certainly has its place when it comes to boosting your brand image and it does get more people to download your content and see you as a trusted source of reliable information, all good things. Ungated content can be useful if you want to:

• Get more shares
• Attract more fans/followers
• Convince browsers to consider your gated content

Test It

If you’re not sure whether or not to make content gated or ungated, do some testing. For instance, you can make one month’s newsletter free to anyone and require a signup the next month to gauge whether or not people are willing to take further action to access that content.

There is no clear “right” choice when it comes to gated and ungated content. Find a balance between what’s best to present without barriers and what’s likely to produce better long-term results with some strategic roadblocks in place.

For help getting your content marketing plan off the ground, reach out to Saba SEO by calling (858) 277-1717 today. We specialize in local San Diego SEO, PPC, and social media management. Reach out today and ask about our free website audits.

 

How to Optimize for Local Search

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According to the latest statistics, approximately 50 percent of mobile users who conduct local searches visit the stores that pop up in the search results within one day. Ranking well for local search terms can mean the difference between making a profit and losing money. Here are five things San Diego digital marketers suggest doing to optimize your web presence for local search traffic.

1. Put Your Address Everywhere

When people search online, they typically append a city and/or state to the search term to narrow the results to specific geographical areas. You can increase the odds of being included in the search results by adding your address to all of your online listings. For instance, put your full address on your website and your city and state on your Twitter and Facebook profiles.

2. Fill Out Your Google Local Listing Profile

When people search for businesses in their local area using Google, the company pulls information from local listing profiles if they’re is available. Although it may take some time to fill out this profile, it’s worth the effort because Google ranks completed profiles higher than incomplete ones.

3. Encourage Reviews

Inviting customers to leave reviews of your business online can help you in a couple of ways. First, people factor in reviews when deciding whether to patron a business. Second, reviews can boost your search engine rankings in Google. Businesses with high ratings are seen as more trustworthy and are typically featured more prominently in the results pages.

4. Target Specific Keywords

When writing content for your website, target the specific keywords your customers will use when searching for your business (e.g. coffee shop, latte). Be certain your city and state also appear on the same page as those keywords to increase the chances they will come up in the search results.

5. Clean Up Duplicate Results

If your business has moved locations or you changed the web address of your website, use Google and Bing’s content removal tools to eliminate the old content. This unnecessary content can dilute the effectiveness of your SEO and frustrate customers with inaccurate information.

For more tips on ranking well in local search, connect with a San Diego SEO company like Saba SEO that can help you improve your site’s optimization and increase your online visibility. Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 today!

Important Social Media Updates (and Why They Matter to Businesses)

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Constant updates keep social media users on their toes. That also means it’s essential for social media marketers to stay up to date as well. Here are a few updates changing the game.

1. Instagram

Instagram cribbed Snapchat’s signature feature: a chronological “story” of photos and videos that users can update throughout the day. Stories will play at the top of users’ Instagram feeds, and disappear after 24 hours. Although Snapchat started the craze for vanishing content, Instagram boasts an easier interface and a better-established community of users. These stories have a look-at-me urgency that feels more engaging and inclusive than a perfectly curated Instagram feed. Combine the use of stories with IG’s new tools for businesses, including the ability to insert a CTA in your profile and business insights, to amp up your social media presence on this platform.

2. Twitter

The latest Twitter update ensures that media attachments like photos, videos, and polls will not count towards the 140-character tweet limit. Users’ @names will also not be counted as characters. Businesses can improve customer service on Twitter, tweeting longer replies to customers and cutting down on confusing multi-part tweets. They can also tweet more visual content without sacrificing captions or descriptions.

3. Facebook

Facebook users now have the option to turn off online interest-based advertising. Advertisers will have to get creative to earn a spot on people’s Facebook feeds, and small businesses will need to find new ways to pinpoint their audiences on Facebook. More businesses will likely make use of location data to profile users. Many will direct their efforts toward the Facebook users who do not opt out, treating them to fine-tuned ads that feel “native” to their feeds (aka native advertising).

Facebook has also introduced 360-degree images that users can explore by moving a finger (or a mouse) around the image. With these images, advertisers can create an experience for users that goes beyond a normal photo.

Need help with the social media part of your online marketing strategy? We’ve got you covered. Call Saba SEO at (858) 277-1717 today and find out our social media, PPC, and SEO services in San Diego! We look forward to hearing from you!

All About Link Reclamation

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Websites change over time and links either get changed or deleted. If those broken links are either on your website or pointing to it, that’s not going to help you retain or attract visitors or earn you a decent ranking despite your best search engine optimization efforts. Link reclamation is the process of locating and taking steps to fix broken links. Link reclamation is also necessary if your website is significantly changed, redesigned, or removed.

Using 301 Redirects

The purpose of a 301 redirect is to restore some value to a link and transfer the visitor to the correct link. Go to the “Install Plugins” tab on WordPress and search for “404 to 301” to find plugins you can use to convert 404s to 301 redirects. Many browsers have a short attention span, so consider this a temporary fix.

Contacting Webmasters

Contact webmasters to correct links. If webmasters are no longer accessible, assume a site was permanently deleted and do the same with those links.

Using Available Tools

Webmaster Tools is free and can do a good job at finding 404s. Both Google and Bing have similar tools. Add Microsoft Excel and Open Site Explorer, a free tool that provides handy metrics you can use to check links, to your arsenal and you’ll be all set to tackle link errors.

Manually Checking Links

Links can be checked by clicking to confirm each one is active and going to the intended destination. As long as you don’t have massive amounts of content with links, manual checks can be effective.

Link reclamation is important because broken links don’t do you any favors. You can get penalized for having invalid links, which can downgrade your ranking and decrease your visibility. Make it a habit to go back and check any links related to your site on a regular basis to avoid unexpected dips in traffic.

Learn more by reaching out to Saba SEO in San Diego. We offer SEO, PPC, social media, and web design services to businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada. Give us a call today at (858) 277-1717 to schedule a free consultation!

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